Italy has joined Russia in condemning Ukraine for allegedly stealing Russian gas intended for European consumers. Italy receives Russian gas through pipelines across Ukraine, but is reporting continuing shortfalls in supplies as it endures a cold snap. Industry minister Claudio Scajola said it was "inadmissible" for Ukraine to take gas meant for his country. Ukraine has strongly denied that it is siphoning off Russian gas in transit for Europe. It insists it is adhering to agreements it has previously signed with Russia. Mr Scajola's comments come amid a growing debate in Europe about the continent's dependence on Russian energy. Energy officials from eight central and eastern European countries have called on the EU to help build an integrated gas storage and distribution network to reduce reliance on Russia. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Authorities arrested five men for setting up fights between dogs and wild boars at an Indian reservation in South Florida. The men, including the founder of a boar-catching dog association, were charged with animal cruelty Thursday after a 14-month investigation into the fights at the Seminole Indian reservation near Okeechobee, authorities said. Undercover Seminole police attended a fight on Oct. 9, 2004, in the backyard of a Seminole Indian's home, authorities said. Twenty-one dogs and at least 14 wild boars were involved, they said. Hog-dog fights typically match a pit bull terrier or bulldog against a wild boar in a pen for 60-second bouts. "It's a little known blood sport that's been around for 25 years," said John Goodwin of The Humane Society. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/27/national/main1245804.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1245804

Iran said the United Nations was being ``manipulated for political purposes'' in its first official observance today of the memory of the Holocaust. The UN's 191 member governments agreed on Nov. 1 to make Jan. 27 the annual ``International Day of Commemoration in Memory of Victims of the Holocaust.'' The decision was taken by consensus in the General Assembly, which means Iran didn't formally object or call for a vote on the resolution. Iran's mission to the UN explained its position on the measure in a note to the president of the General Assembly that was released today. While condemning genocide as a crime against humanity, the statement said ``rendering political judgments on such events and closing the door to any scientific scrutiny'' would impede efforts to prevent future atrocities. ...http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=artEvi2cphpQ&refer=home

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife." The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.The U.S. military on Thursday freed five of what it said were 11 women among the 14,000 detainees currently held in the 2 1/2-year-old insurgency. All were accused of "aiding terrorists or planting explosives," but an Iraqi government commission found that evidence was lacking....http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/27/AR2006012700921.html

In the face of the surprise electoral victory of Hamas, Europe's diplomatic community strives to keep the peace process rolling. But under the surface of all the declarations of open-mindedness, which are also echoed by the press, there is much unclarity about how this unwanted situation came about and how it will develop. Amidst fears for the future of the Middle East peace process, the foreign ministers of the United States, European Union, Russia and the General Secretary of the United Nations are trying to remain as optimistic as possible about an election result in the Palestinian Authority that most are judging as dismal. The so-called Mideast Quartet will meet this Monday in London to discuss the election of Hamas in Ramallah and its consequences for the "Roadmap" to peace in the Mideast. ...http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,397604,00.html

Two French missionaries and two Haitians were kidnapped near a volatile slum in Haiti's capital, a U.N. official said Thursday.The four were seized on Wednesday as they traveled on a road near Cite Soleil, a sprawling slum on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince used as a base by heavily armed gangs blamed for a wave of kidnappings and violence in the capital, said David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman.The captors have demanded a ransom, and Haiti's anti-kidnapping squad was working to secure the hostages' release, said Wimhurst, who did not identify the two French nationals other than to say one was a priest and the other a nun. He said he had no information about the identities of the kidnapped Haitians.A wave of kidnappings has plagued the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, where criminal gangs have flourished in the aftermath of the rebellion that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-01-27-haiti_x.htm?csp=34